A Quiet Christmas
by Cookie Creed
Summary: It's Christmas on Atlantis, and what better way to celebrate than dinner with Team Sheppard? Team-bonding over Teyla's wonderful cooking! Merry Christmas everyone!


**A Quiet Christmas**

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la!"

John sung quietly to himself as he strolled down the halls of Atlantis, his stomach rumbling. The entire base had had the day off, and most people had gone either to the mainland or off world to M3X-658, where it was snowing. John had spent the day in his quarters resting and wrapping presents.

Reason being, it was Christmas.

_Daedalus _was currently orbiting Earth, its crew spending the day with their families. Plenty of people had done to Earth through the Stargate, but most people stayed in the city. Who wouldn't? John didn't want to go back to Earth, given his family situation. So he was happy to be in the city and about to have dinner with his team. Teyla had offered to cook a variety of Christmas dishes for them to consume, and who was he to deny her? Of course, Rodney requested no lemons and Ronon wanted a heap of meat. And John? He just wanted a Christmas pudding.

He could smell the food from two corridors away and inhaled deeply. Mmm, that sure smelt good! He'd been starving himself all day just so he could binge on Teyla's excellent cooking, if her tuttleroot soup was any example. Rodney was coming up the opposite side of the corridor and they both narrowed their eyes and sped up. It was comical to anyone watching and seeing the Chief Science Officer and Military Officer racing each other to dinner. John just managed to beat Rodney and waved his hand in front of the panel, much to the scientists chagrin. The door opened and they stared inside with open mouths.

"What took you guys so long?" Ronon grinned, lounging back in a chair.

oOo

The first course was chicken with roast beans, carrots, potato and pumpkin. Rodney added generous amounts of salt and Ronon ignored his knife and fork, choosing instead to eat with his hands. Teyla smiled as everyone devoured their meal eagerly, eating the food on her own plate delicately. Ronon was the life of their gathering with his booming laugh and wild arm-waving. The other three found themselves holding their stomachs as they roared with laughter. All four of them had been looking forward to Christmas evening for weeks now, just for Teyla's cooking.

She had decorated her room in a very Christmassy theme, with tinsel on the walls, a wreath next to the door and a Christmas tree laden with baubles and lights. It was a perfect Christmas setting for the team as they enjoyed quality time together.

"It appears that I will not have any food leftover," Teyla grinned. Every plate on the table was empty, and Rodney was still shovelling his last plate of chicken into his mouth. He was glad that Teyla had not served anything with lemon, since he was 'deathly' allergic. John had ceased to carry around a lemon a couple years ago, after his fondness for Rodney increased. Now there was no need to carry one around for dire circumstances, since Rodney was a lot better-tempered than he used to be. Yes, he was still arrogant, but with a decreasing frequency. They were like a family now, so Rodney didn't find the need to act like an ass.

"That was great," John sighed, leaning back. The waistband on his pants was tighter than he remembered.

"Where's the seconds?" Ronon asked, sucking on his fingers.

"Give it thirty minutes at most," Teyla said firmly. "I would not want any of you getting sick from eating too fast."

"This is the best Christmas dinner I've had in a long time," Rodney spoke through a mouthful.

"Really?" John said sarcastically. "Please enlighten us."

"Well, I haven't had a good Christmas since I was about seventeen. Mum cooked the whole Christmas shenanigan and I got an iPod from my dad. Jeannie was also pretty cool, I guess, but she spent most of the time in the study chatting with her boyfriend. She missed out on mum's cookies! I sure am glad she broke up with him."

"At least you guys get along now," John grinned, remembering how pretty Jeannie had been.

"Oh, yeah, I sent her an email, a card and gifts for her family! She should be pretty happy with that contribution. I know she's got it all because the _Daedalus _made all the deliveries yesterday."

"Normally on Christmas," John began after taking a swig of beer, "I would get up a 5am, go to church at 6 and sit through the Christmas service. When we got home, mum would do the cooking and I would sleep until she woke me to say that we were going to our grandparents' house. Then we would spend the entire day, until late at night, at their house eating and stuff. We even opened our presents there. Once grandma's dog broke into the presents and scoffed down a whole bar of chocolate! Poor thing was sick afterwards."

"Jeannie often went Christmas Carolling," Rodney said suddenly. "I never went, of course."

"David and I went carolling too." John smiled fondly at the memory. "He's much better at singing than me; everyone said so."

"I do believe a group of people went around to different rooms last night singing," Teyla recalled. "They didn't come to my room, but I could hear them through the door."

"That was probably Beckett," Ronon said. "He told me he was organising a group of people for carolling when he stitched me up a few days ago."

"Yes, I did hear his voice."

They amused themselves for a moment, imagining the Scottish doctor singing American songs with his strange accent. Then Teyla disappeared behind a thick curtain to grab dessert. While she did that, John and Ronon cleared the table and Rodney put down the dessert plates and cutlery. By the time the huge pudding was brought out, the three men were salivating. Ronon wiped his chin and stared at the chocolate-coated Christmas pudding with wide eyes. It was too beautiful to be true! He knew John had requested pudding, but he hadn't known that it would look this enticing!

Teyla cut the first slice and handed it to Rodney. He waved his hand over the rest of the pudding. "This is mine," he said. He pointed at the plated slice in his hand. "You guys can share this."

Laughter erupted around the table and Teyla finished cutting the pudding, handing the cream around the table. Everyone added generous scoops and set to work devouring the pudding. It seemed that all three men were vying to see who could finish the pudding first, and they all got seconds. Once again, there were no leftovers!

Hours passed and as the food was digested, everyone contributed to the cleaning up. Teyla washed all the plates and trays in her bathroom sink and set them in cardboard boxes, to be taken back to the kitchen the next morning. Then they lounged on various couches around the room sipping wine, or in Ronon's case, beer. They were all full, and every waistband was uncomfortably tight. Being as impulsive as he always was, Ronon undid his button and sighed as pressure was released from his middle. He just pulled his shirt down lower to cover anything necessary. Following his lead, both John and Rodney did the same thing. The relief was awesome.

"Well Chewie," John yawned, "we're gonna have to double up our gym sessions, because otherwise the weight will pile up."

"I'm feeling it too," Teyla agreed. "I do not normally eat as much food as I did tonight."

"Christmas is a time for binge-eating and dumb family reunions," Rodney muttered, rubbing his face tiredly. Eating a great amount of food made even the best night owl sleepy. Their Christmas hadn't been a huge party or gathering, but somehow a quiet Christmas dinner was preferable to any party they could have gone to. "Merry Christmas everyone," Rodney sighed.

"Merry Christmas," the others chorused. John was stuck by a sudden flash of insight. He now had a family who would stick with him through thick and thin. A family worth fighting for.

"A toast," John said, raising his glass, "to our family."


End file.
